UWLD Heat Controller Review's Needed

[BFRedrocks]

Any updates on the Santi undersuit and battery?

Just returned from my Antarctic diving adventure on Sunday and wow, if you have the opportunity, I cannot recommend visiting Antarctica enough. But, that's a topic for another thread...so how did the heated suit, gloves, and Bobby's battery and heat controller work?

In a word, flawlessly. Water temps were a bit warmer than I expected...first dive was 31 deg F, and subsequent dives were between 34-36 deg F. I ended up turning on the heat as soon as I hit the water, and for all dives I left the controller on full power. On one dive I did have a hard time turning the controller on, so for the first 5 minutes, I started to get cold without the heat. But once the heat was on, I was totally comfortable. For every dive, my hands and my body were toasty warm...so much so that I could have dove much longer than I did (average dive time was about 28 minutes) if it weren't for the group I was with, none of whom had heated undergarments and got really cold after 15 minutes.

Using the suit and gloves (146 watts total) with my 160 wh UWLD battery, I was able to do two full dives on one charge. So let's say about 60 minutes on full power, and at the end of the second dive, the heat controller was in the red (last 25% of charge). I never ran it all the way down, but even on full power, it certainly lasted my whole dive and more. I was very pleased with the operation of the heat controller, battery, and heated undersuit and gloves. I'll add that some of my diver buddies noticed that the LED on the controller was quite bright, especially when the viz got darker, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Bobby]

Just returned from my Antarctic diving adventure on Sunday and wow, if you have the opportunity, I cannot recommend visiting Antarctica enough. But, that's a topic for another thread...so how did the heated suit, gloves, and Bobby's battery and heat controller work?

In a word, flawlessly. Water temps were a bit warmer than I expected...first dive was 31 deg F, and subsequent dives were between 34-36 deg F. I ended up turning on the heat as soon as I hit the water, and for all dives I left the controller on full power. On one dive I did have a hard time turning the controller on, so for the first 5 minutes, I started to get cold without the heat. But once the heat was on, I was totally comfortable. For every dive, my hands and my body were toasty warm...so much so that I could have dove much longer than I did (average dive time was about 28 minutes) if it weren't for the group I was with, none of whom had heated undergarments and got really cold after 15 minutes.

Using the suit and gloves (146 watts total) with my 160 wh UWLD battery, I was able to do two full dives on one charge. So let's say about 60 minutes on full power, and at the end of the second dive, the heat controller was in the red (last 25% of charge). I never ran it all the way down, but even on full power, it certainly lasted my whole dive and more. I was very pleased with the operation of the heat controller, battery, and heated undersuit and gloves. I'll add that some of my diver buddies noticed that the LED on the controller was quite bright, especially when the viz got darker, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

View attachment 570379

Thanks for the great review. BTW, if you want to turn the LED indicator brightness down, you can. Hold the Piezo button while plugging it into the battery, this will put you in setup mode. Then you press and release the Piezo switch which will rotate between three different brightness levels. When you have adjusted it to the brightness you like, press and hold the piezo switch for more than three seconds and the unit will go back into regular operation. It will hold that brightness setting even when you remove the controller from the battery, so you don't have to reset it each time you plug it in.

 

[v101]

I purchased the heat controller several years ago when it first was available. I used it with a SANTI heated vest. When I am not diving in Florida caves, I am at a quarry practicing, the quarry while in the summer can be nice and warm for the first 30' then after that it gets COLD... using the heated vest with the light dude controller is very nice. I typically only need it set to the lower settings a bit before I start getting too cold. it takes the edge off. I clip the controller in such a way so that its across my chest, and the cable runs under my arm pit to protect it, I am able to press the button with ease even w/ dry gloves on.

it worked fine until while on Deco in Florida the button stopped working, ARGG, had to shiver that deco stop out....Bobby fixed the button and replaced it with the new LED. It works just fine now. I am now using the light monkey heated undergarment in Florda and the SANTI heated vest for the quarries.
the LED in the caves is nice, as I can simply glance down at the number of flashes w/ out even un-clipping the controller to adjust the power output. this is a huge help, as i can focus on what I am doing w/ out having to pay attention to the other smaller RED LED into the button.

The light dude controller in my opinion is a great diving product for anyone that gets cold or is diving cold water, who wants to stay comfortable while on their dive or deco stops. it works well, and w/ the LED upgrade its a nice feature.

 

[Jack Hammer]

What I like about the UWLD heat controller is it works great, the battery lasts a long time, it is easy to change settings, the 5 settings allow the heat to be adjusted from somewhere between "I'm pretty sure it's on because i don't notice this near freezing water I am swimming in", all the way up to "I'm having a heat stroke and it's still getting hotter". The cord is long enough to allow you to route and place it where ever you want, and it has been reliable for several years. What I dont like is the piezzo button is too sensitive. If bumped by the inflator it will turn on, off, or cycle through the settings. I resolved this by sliding a piece of mountain bike inner tube over the piezzo button. As much as I like that the cord allows pretty much any configuration, it really is just too long for me, I have to tuck quite a bit of excess into my belt.

I had a full suit flood at max penetration while diving a flooded mine in 40*/4c water a few years back. It took us about 45min to swim out and we were going about as fast as we could. I use a Santi vest and it would still get uncomfortably hot on full power, so I would run it there as long as I could then turn it to 80%. The biggest irritant besides the water was the controller kept cycling through the setting as it bumped my wing inflator, so I had to keep it in my hand. I've since fixed this by putting a piece of inner tube over it. No more accidental cycling.

We made it out and I'm confident that without a suit heater the outcome would have been very different. I had enough water in the suit that I was unable to get out of the water once we finally exited. I had to open the suit to drain it before standing and have help from others. Through all that Bobby's heat controller and my vest kept working and gave some level of core warmth for the swim out. It's worked great since then too and been on several tech dives in frigid waters without issue. I highly recommend it and think it is well worth the cost.

 

[Bobby]

What I like about the UWLD heat controller is it works great, the battery lasts a long time, it is easy to change settings, the 5 settings allow the heat to be adjusted from somewhere between "I'm pretty sure it's on because i don't notice this near freezing water I am swimming in", all the way up to "I'm having a heat stroke and it's still getting hotter". The cord is long enough to allow you to route and place it where ever you want, and it has been reliable for several years. What I dont like is the piezzo button is too sensitive. If bumped by the inflator it will turn on, off, or cycle through the settings. I resolved this by sliding a piece of mountain bike inner tube over the piezzo button. As much as I like that the cord allows pretty much any configuration, it really is just too long for me, I have to tuck quite a bit of excess into my belt.

I had a full suit flood at max penetration while diving a flooded mine in 40*/4c water a few years back. It took us about 45min to swim out and we were going about as fast as we could. I use a Santi vest and it would still get uncomfortably hot on full power, so I would run it there as long as I could then turn it to 80%. The biggest irritant besides the water was the controller kept cycling through the setting as it bumped my wing inflator, so I had to keep it in my hand. I've since fixed this by putting a piece of inner tube over it. No more accidental cycling.

We made it out and I'm confident that without a suit heater the outcome would have been very different. I had enough water in the suit that I was unable to get out of the water once we finally exited. I had to open the suit to drain it before standing and have help from others. Through all that Bobby's heat controller and my vest kept working and gave some level of core warmth for the swim out. It's worked great since then too and been on several tech dives in frigid waters without issue. I highly recommend it and think it is well worth the cost.

Jack,
FYI, the new LED battery status indicator has a different smaller piezo switch that is inserted in the middle of the LED indicator. It is much easier to see the heat level flashes along with the charge level of the battery and it also makes it much more difficult to bump the switch. If you decide you want the upgrade, let me know how much shorter you want the cable and I can do that at the same time. The cost of the upgrade is $140 which gives you a new switch, the LED status indicator, and a new control board inside the unit.

 

[Ean86]

After a few cold dives in 40F water just the other week here in WI I'm looking into a heated vest for my Santi dry suit. Undergarments alone just aren't enough to keep me warm. Looks like it's recommended to the Vega valve. I looked at the Santi valve and it says that it can only accept 12v so I'm assuming I should go with a Vega if I want to run with the UWLD battery pack as the UWLD battery packs run at 18v?

I read tbones explanation on stacking the caps (assuming you have a heat controller and lights) and I'm wondering if someone can explain this in more detail. Do you not want to move the caps just because this setup could be prone to wearing out from too much swapping around, is it just a preference thing or is there a functional reason for the specific order of the caps? Based on the explanation if I have battery --> light --> heater (connected in that order) does turning my light on/off affect my ability to turn on the heater? I could see it also the opposite way (battery --> heater --> light) and I may or may not always want the heat on but don't want that to impact the light. I'm thinking the order doesn't have any impact on functionality downstream but maybe I'm wrong?

 

[tbone1004]

@Ean86 the battery packs from @Bobby are nominal 18v, however the controller bucks that down to various different voltage levels and outputs 12v ish which is what the vests accept. More importantly the valves are just a pass through so they don't really care what the voltage is *within reason*, only amperage.

The stack caps are wired in parallel not in series so they are not dependent on each other and you can turn them on and off at will in any particular order. The order of the stacking is to have the one that goes "on and off" on the end so that you are doing less work each time. The light doesn't care so long as you don't abuse it, though things are much happier when static vs. dynamic in general.

 

[Ean86]

@tbone1004 Thanks for clarifying that. Looks like the packs are on backorder at the moment. Just have to convince the wife that I shouldn't be cold in the water!

 

[Bobby]

After a few cold dives in 40F water just the other week here in WI I'm looking into a heated vest for my Santi dry suit. Undergarments alone just aren't enough to keep me warm. Looks like it's recommended to the Vega valve. I looked at the Santi valve and it says that it can only accept 12v so I'm assuming I should go with a Vega if I want to run with the UWLD battery pack as the UWLD battery packs run at 18v?

I read tbones explanation on stacking the caps (assuming you have a heat controller and lights) and I'm wondering if someone can explain this in more detail. Do you not want to move the caps just because this setup could be prone to wearing out from too much swapping around, is it just a preference thing or is there a functional reason for the specific order of the caps? Based on the explanation if I have battery --> light --> heater (connected in that order) does turning my light on/off affect my ability to turn on the heater? I could see it also the opposite way (battery --> heater --> light) and I may or may not always want the heat on but don't want that to impact the light. I'm thinking the order doesn't have any impact on functionality downstream but maybe I'm wrong?

Ean,
As T-bone said the stack caps are wired in parallel which means that one cap does not affect the function of the other cap. The stack cap is 1" taller than the side gland cap and that is why the heat controller comes standard with the stack cap and the primary light comes standard with the side gland cap, that way when only running the light your canister is as compact as possible. The latchless design requires that the stack cap be 1" taller than the side gland cap. You can also stack multiple stack caps and/or run them independent. The stack cap comes with a blanking cap in order to run it as a stand alone. Many divers that do long run times in very cold water run the heat controller on a dedicated battery and their UWLD primary on a second dedicated battery. I often run a heat controller, 5K Lumen video light, and primary all on a single battery. The ability to mix and match for specific dive needs is the best benefit of the UWLD latchless system, besides the considerably stronger connection compared to a latched system.

BTW I'm in the process of building more heat controllers and should have them back in stock the end of this week or the beginning of next.

 

[Bobby]

I had a couple of question's PM'd to me about the UWLD heat controller. I answered the PM however I thought I would repost here in case the response can help anyone else. Our heat controller will work with any 12v heated vest.

Yes, our heat controller will work with the Santi vest and/or the santi valve with e/o connection. No heated vest connections are not universal (the plug inside that connects to the vest) that is where buying the santi valve w/ e/o is an advantage if you don't know how to solder. I no longer stock the Vega valve, though I still believe it is the best valve w/ e/o on the market, most people buy the valves through the dealers and it was difficult for me to get them.

Now for the hard part explaining, in laymen terms, how our system works. Most people think of electricity in voltage and sometimes amps, however watts is actually what is important. Voltage multiplied with amps gives you watts. Watts is power and power over time is what we are concerned with. The resistance of the wires in a heated vest is what creates the heat which takes time. In electrical engineering something called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is commonly used. Essentially I use a mathematical calculation that very quickly turns the power on and off in the heat controller to mimic 12v which results in the same wattage being supplied to the vest. The wires both in the suit connector and the vest can easily handle 12 or 18v the only difference is that in time the 18v supply would be a good bit hotter than the 12v supply. By mathematically using PWM the vest heat is maintained at the 12v heat level.

Now when we say something is 12v or 18v with batteries that is what we call its nominal voltage. For the UWLD batteries that are 18v nominal they are 21v at full charge and 15v at full discharge. Virtually everyone has switched to Lithium ION (LiON) batteries, as we have, however the others use an 11.1v configuration. That 11.1v configuration is 12.6v at full charge and 9v at full discharge. Heated vests are actually designed to work on a full charge 12v battery system from something like a motorcycle or a boat that has an alternator charging the batteries when they are running. What this means is that an 11.1v LiON battery system can only give 90% of the vests full heat for only about a minute until it starts dropping the heat as the voltage drops.

Our batteries at full discharge of 15v is still higher than the full charge of an actual 12v battery which is 14.7v. Again with a mathematical calculation I keep the heat constant from 21v down to 15v for each of the 5 heat level settings on our heat controller. The key to the whole system is our 18v nominal battery packs.

Usually the next question is why everyone else uses 11.1v and I use 18v. Back in the day when we had HID lights they were driven by a ballast that was voltage sensitive. If you used a higher voltage it would burn the ballast and/or the bulb out faster. When LiON came around they put cell packs together in a configuration as close to but not over 12v. I'm an engineer with decades of high speed manufacturing experience, not common for dive manufacturers, so I started with a clean CAD (Computer Aided Design) sheet and designed my lights from scratch. I didn't copy lights being made by others and I also went straight to LED's which are driven differently than HID and are not voltage sensitive. This allowed me to pick a battery voltage that was the most optimal which worked out to be 5 cells in series, which with LiON gives you 18v nominal. I then designed all of my electronics to work with that nominal voltage. PWM, using solid state components, is also extremely efficient. The benefit is that the UWLD heat controller doesn't use battery power to mimic 12v like a bucked system would. The "off time" of the PWM more than makes up for the power it takes to turn the system back on. That means that the system is as close as you can get to 100% efficient giving the diver longer run times than would normally be expected along with continuous heat level which is much safer for decompression.